The Art of Floral Arrangement

By Qiao Ye

Once I went to visit my friend and saw a bunch of beautiful flowers displayed beside the television as I entered the living room. The flowers were not only in nice bloom, but were also arranged with great taste.

“I did it,” my friend said.“I have been studying how to arrange flowers lately.”

“What’s your biggest harvest?”

“My biggest harvest is that I found there are natural similarities between the art of arranging flowers and the principle of behaving yourself in life.”

“Can you tell it to me?”

“Of course,” she said with a fairly exulted smile. “Just taking this bunch of flowers for example,there are five basic laws—

“Firstly, the light top and heavy bottom refer to the color of flowers. The deep color is in the foundation, the light colors are at the top; such a flower arrangement has a sense of stability. Conducting yourself is the same as this. You have to make clear what is flashy and what fundamental so that you won’t lose yourself.”

I nodded.

“Secondly, the gathered top and scattered bottom of flowers refer to the allocation of the placement of flowers in terms of size. The small and thin petals should be arranged on the top and outside;and the big and thick petals are in the middle and bottom. It will offer the flower arrangement a sense of balance. Conducting yourself is the same. You have to make clear your location in life so as to find the most suitable affiliation.”

“Thirdly, varying in height refers to the arrangement of sprays. Only when the sprays vary in length and height will the bouquet display vitality and a sense of flow. In conducting yourself, you need to know how to exert your strength and avoid your shortcomings in order to make all your efforts count.”

I look at her with a smile.Her words and wisdom really surprised me.

“Fourthly, the distance between flowers and sprays should be varying in size and density. The big flowers should keep sparse and the small should be dense,so that the flower arrangement is proper in actual condition with a sense of layers. In conducting yourself, you should behave the same way. Principle and propriety can make you mellow and natural,” she said with a smile. “Finally, the top and bottom should be consistent.It means that the dynamics of the whole bouquet should be concentrated—that is, the shape of flowers arrangement is spread out, but the spirit of it is concentrative, so that the flower arrangement can be associated with each other and have a sense of wholeness. The way you conduct yourself is through selfuniformity. However, it is just a basic framework, and the specific situation should be determined by flowers or persons.”

一次，我去一位朋友家里玩兒，一進客廳，就看到電視機旁擺著一束漂亮的鮮花。這束鮮花不但開得好，而且插得十分有味道。

“是我插的。”朋友說，“我最近剛剛研究一點兒插花的學問。”

“最大的收獲是什么？”

“最大的收獲是，我發現插花的藝術和做人的道理有天然的相通之處。”

“給我講講好嗎？”

“當然可以，”她頗有些得意地笑道，“就拿這一束花來說吧，基本規律有五條——

“第一，上輕下重，指的是花的色彩。色彩深的居下，色彩淺的居上，這樣的插花作品具有穩定感。做人也是如此，一定要弄清楚哪些是浮華的東西，哪些是根底的東西，這樣就不會輕易地失落自己。”

我點點頭。

“第二，上聚下散，指的是大小花的位置分配。花朵小的，花瓣比較單薄的要插在外部和上部；花朵大的，花瓣比較豐富的應當放在中部和下部。這樣的插花作品具有均衡感。做人也是同樣，一定要明白自己在生活中的位置，才能找到最適合自己的歸屬。

“第三，高低錯落，指的是花枝的安排。花枝一定要有長有短，有高有低，這樣的插花作品才會顯得生動活潑，具有流動感。做人也要知道自己該如何發揮長處和如何收斂短處，才能盡自己最大的努力去做到最好。”

我微笑地看著她。她的話很令我意外。

“第四，要有疏有密，指的是花朵和花枝之間的距離要有大有小，大則疏，小則密，這樣的插花作品才會虛實相宜，具有層次感。做人也應當這樣，有原則，有分寸，才會做得圓潤自然。”她笑道，“最后就是要仰俯呼應。這指的是整個花的動勢要集中，要形散而神不散，這樣的插花作品才會彼此關聯，具有整體感。表現在做人方面，就是說自我的統一性。不過，這也只是一個基礎框架，具體的情況還要因花而宜，因人而定。”

聽完她的一番話，我開始細細地端詳起這束花來。她說得多好啊，做人不也是這樣嗎？這束花看上去似乎很平常，其實每個人都和每束花一樣，有輕有重，有散有聚，有高有低，有疏有密，有呼有應。每一幅作品都需要我們去用心經營，才能做到最真和最美。◆

After hearing her words, I began to examine this bunch of flowers. How wonderful what she said was. Isn’t life like this?This bunch of flowers seemed to be quite common; in fact, each person is also like a bunch of flowers echoing each other and varying in weight, concentration,height, and density. Each piece needs to be managed carefully to attain the most genuine and beautiful arrangement.◆